The transmission control protocol (TCP) is the standard communications protocol for the internet, and virtually all internet traffic is TCP-based. In networks that have high latency and/or packet-loss, TCP exhibits poor bandwidth utilization. When based on TCP, real-time applications therefore become progressively less usable as latency and/or packet loss increases. For example, the delay between a computer in the United Stated and another in India is approximately 250 milliseconds, and, at this latency, real-time applications are essentially unusable on TCP.